This echoes a recent conversation we had on a couple of french newsgroups. It is a rarely known fact that in France, even though one can freely provide Internet access without a license, it is a requirement for whoever establishes and maintains a communications network to be able to identify users. Most people don't know those rules, or think they apply only to the big licensed telcos, but it's definitely not the case. And not complying (which would apply even to the unwilling hotspot operator: anyone plugging an AP with the default "open-to-all" configuration) can have quite serious consequences.
Of course, this has not been enforced yet, but wait for a criminal case to crop up (and not the RIAA) and suddenly someone will get into big trouble;
I wouldn't be surprised if there were similar provisions in the US that nobody thought about but will get many hotspot operators into trouble if they don't take appropriate measures, the day the FBI will start investigating cases that can be traced back to an open AP. The appropriates measures being to only allow identified users to connect (either directly known, or authenticated through some form of trust chain). Oh, return of the roaming issue :-)
Of course, the authentication should be strong enough that no-one can "slip through" and get access as someone else. Oh, return of 802.1X :-)
Now back to our regular programming...
Jacques.
At 22:16 16/07/2003, Tim Pozar wrote:
[...]Hot spots elude RIAA dragnet By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 16, 2003, 4:00 AM PT http://news.com.com/2100-1027-1026204.html
Early last spring, NYCWireless co-founder Anthony Townsend got a note in the mail saying that someone on his network had been violating copyright laws.
This type of note is becoming increasingly common as record companies and Hollywood studios subpoena Internet service providers (ISPs) for information about subscribers in order to stop people from trading songs and movies online. But Townsend's case was unusual: As the representative of a loose collection of wireless "hot spot" Internet access points, there was no way he or the relevant access point operator in New York's Bryant Park could identify or warn the file trader.
-- Jacques Caron, IP Sector Technologies Join the discussion on public WLAN open global roaming: http://lists.ipsector.com/listinfo/openroaming
-- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
